The Black Robe

A new edition (the first one volume edition, from the same year as the first, three volume, book edition, also published by Chatto & Windus – previously serialised in the Sheffield and Rotherham Independent Supplement and other regional newspapers). viii, 312pp, with one page of publisher’s ads preceding the title page and a 32pp publisher’s catalogue, dated November 1881, bound in at rear. In green cloth-covered boards decorated in black with black lettering on front panel, and black decoration and lettering on spine embellished with gilt finishes. All edged untrimmed. Decorative endpapers. Vignette on title page. 12mo. Boards are worn at edges, rubbed at corners and spine ends, and a little marked. Text block edges dust darkened. Front hinge has partial crack, with endpaper a little rippled near hinge. Previous owner’s name, dated 1882, inked on front endpaper verso. Faint and occasional spotting but generally neat and clean internally. An early and hard to find edition of one of Collin’s later novels. Collins is probably best known for Woman in White and The Moonstone, widely considered to be the first detective fiction novel. Mr Murthwaite, the renowned traveller in The Moonstone, makes a brief reappearance in this novel.